I've been thinking about a DAC for a while but , On your DAC if it has only 1 toslink input and you have multiple sources ( CD , Blu-ray-SACD , Computer ), has anyone used a toslink switch to switch between multiple inputs , or will there be degradation of the optical signal ?

Pigface,I would think, in analog terms, that a switch on the optical side would be a simple DPTDT where the signal goes to one path or the other.Every DAC and every *modern* digital device I've encountered offers plenty of options: S/PDIF, coax, Toslink and even good ol' RCA. Those apply to the outputs as well as the receiving ends, so I would not think switching to be a worry.

i got this USB sound blaster SBX X-FI PRO on the CHEAP. it sounds pretty good. has some tweeker program with it for bass enhancement and some other jazz,record tools capture and you can chop the tracks apart/make separate files to name them after ,but it saves them as 16 bit 48k dat lossless, not 24 bit 96khowever it streams in 24/96 thats all i need. definitely has less pocking going on. but i did notice some kind of scrape/rip/tear noise sometimes.i suspect its still pocking but adding many buffblurbs togather and doing it less but bigger.kinda like when a cd has a bad spot and it skip/chirps.

IMHO, CD-quality res is perfectly acceptable for the vast majority of sources. How many vintage rock, jazz, or folk albums do you really think benefit from hi-res transfers? Especially when a good percentage of those transfers currently available, honestly, are not treated with the care necessary to benefit from such. I don't believe it's quite time to invest in expensive and permanent solutions to the whole "digital media" morass. Give it, maybe, five more years. Once again merely my opinion.

i have noticed a MAJOR difference if the curtain, if you will. of the sound differences between that of spotify's high quality and tidal's hi-fi resolutions. obviously the bit-rates are different(320 compared to 1411/let alone master) but the handling of those resolutions from my laptop are now much more efficient. i noticed a difference before i got the usb dac,but now its more obvious. ive opened both programs,side by side, with the same song, from the same exact album, on each program,with both programs at the highest possible resolution,and the internal sound card at 24/96 and then the SBX (also uses same driver,yet modified by the program to define its usb output) and the difference is pretty major. but ive also noticed,or so it seems ..a dip,in quality on the SBX box between the rca outputs,and the headphone output, the headphone output seems to have a little more clarity,little brighter and wider.or should i say more open. bringing it closer to what im calling the curtain.(better sound making the curtain closer or thinner/more clear and open). thing is im going right to the amp inputs now from the SBX. and i do wish it had a bit more output. i enabled the equalizer, but kept it flat. and there is a eq total level that enabled me to effectively raise the volume with it flat, however,that seemed to change/shape the sound in a way i didn't like. so i may go back to using the preamp in my harman kardon 730 to boost the signal. i think im on my way to getting a PAS3 or 4, ive heard they boost very flat and clean.

- I've ripped everything to FLAC, including vinyl, and store everything on "video" quality hard drives. Those tend to have lower error rates and are extremely quiet in operation.

- The DAC is king. I use a Maverick TubeMagic D1+ here.

It performs well above it's price point and never fails to satisfy. Whatever you decide to go with, DO check all the input options available. I find that I much prefer the USB chain on the D1+ even though it tops out at a lower resolution than either optical or coaxial.

- My player of choice is jRiver Media Center If that can't do it, it just doesn't need to be done. Everything was ripped to digital using their internal ripper, which is a lite version of EAC. All the tags and cover art were added automagically after the tracks were ripped. I used Audacity with minimal tweaks for my vinyl.

- Don't forget the cables. Quality does make a difference in what you hear. I upgraded to a Pangea silver here and the difference was immediate.

- DO try to match your resolution all through the chain. Any resampling from the source file to the final output will tend to introduce errors and buffering that can lower the sound quality. My system is all set to 96/24 which is where the Maverick tops out on USB.

- For Windows users, WASAPI is the next best thing to bit perfect and runs rings around Direct Sound or most any other options. Try to avoid any addon programs or drivers unless your equipment insists on them.

Oh. And don't ignore the computer hardware. Most of the built in sound handling tends to suck. USB especially tends to be prone to interference from all the other USB devices we like to have. I went with a Paul Pang "audiophile grade" USB card that creates it's own unique USB channel and draws power directly from an external power supply. The only thing plugged into that chain is the DAC, and the ADC I use for ripping vinyl. Once again, difference was immediately apparent. The card itself actually cost more than my DAC, but I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

good stuff skizo! thanks, i may eventually get a large external solid state drive for storage, right now im tinkering with my half gig sata drive i notice my usb SBX box dont have dolby, not sure thats a showstopper if the stream/music is lossless and playing through a clear path. what is your take on that. i see you have some sort of dolby ..wifi?

Don't need dolby unless you're working with dolby encoded material. Noise reduction isn't really an issue otherwise. The Dolby sticker you see is just one I had hanging around, stuck on the side of a plasma ball.

I know a DAC is a Digital Audio Converter (?) but exactly what does it do and why do I need one?Can't I can load digital music files such as *.WAV or *.FLAC files onto my iPad that I can play using iTunes that I can send to my amp using a cable with a Mini RCA to RCA jacks. I'm asking because I tried this a while ago and since I have a decent CD player never really persued this source in the past.

I'm reluctant to subscribe to a music streaming service because even if I do I don't really posess the music file that I can load onto multiple devices such as my phone so I can listen to song from that server while driving.

How does a DAC improve the sound quality of the digital file? is a $2000 DAC really that much better than a $100 DAC.

Dogstar wrote:I know a DAC is a Digital Audio Converter (?) but exactly what does it do and why do I need one?Can't I can load digital music files such as *.WAV or *.FLAC files onto my iPad that I can play using iTunes that I can send to my amp using a cable with a Mini RCA to RCA jacks. I'm asking because I tried this a while ago and since I have a decent CD player never really persued this source in the past.

I'm reluctant to subscribe to a music streaming service because even if I do I don't really posess the music file that I can load onto multiple devices such as my phone so I can listen to song from that server while driving.

How does a DAC improve the sound quality of the digital file? is a $2000 DAC really that much better than a $100 DAC.

DAC is actually Digital to Analog Converter. It's the analog part that can cause problems. Mainly loss of detail. Unless you can make direct comparisons the differences can be subtle. I've used portables and they usually do a decent job. My newer ipad sounds distinctly better than my several years old ipod. Better bass and more detail. But I still use my ipod for casual listening at work through computer speakers. The lost detail isn't a big deal there.